MY TIPS ON PUGLIA TOUR
A WEEK IN PUGLIA MID SEPTEMBER
We enjoyed the Tauck itinerary very much! We enjoyed PUGLIA!
We arrived two days early to relax and recover from jet lag, Tauck could not book us into the Masseria for a pre-stay, there were no rooms because of a wedding, so we stayed at the Borgo Egnasia which we booked independently and it turned out to be one of our most favorite ever hotels. Justin Timberlake was married there for those who care to know such things.
We deliberately chose a mid September departure because we liked what were supposed to be the average temperatures for the time of year. Well nature was not on our side and it was continuously at least 20 degrees Fahrenheit warmer than average, so that most days it hit almost 100 degrees and all of us suffered, there were 20 in our group and one suffered heat stroke in the first couple of days and remained ill for the rest of the tour, the remainder of us suffered but just about coped, copious amounts of water to drink and clothes just soaking wet by the end of the day.
There really was little free time, the longest amounts of time were two of the days in the middle of the day when we were not near our hotel, so there was no way for anyone to make a side trip to somewhere else if they had wanted to do this. Most days we arrived back at the hotel very late in the afternoon, just time to cool off by a swim and shower and change for dinner. Our evening itinerary was swapped around two days because of a wedding at one of our restaurant venues.
Welcome dinner, jackets? One man wore a jacket, never saw it again, until the final dinner when more jackets were worn, but even then it varied between an Hawaiian shirt and a jacket and bow tie, whatever the brochure says, it is not necessary for this tour and as usual on every tour I have been on, everyone got more and more casual. Swimming, we swam more times on this tour than we ever have on a Tauck tour, beautiful large swimming pools, including a big saltwater indoor pool at the Borgo.
The Tauck final document booklet----specifically mentioned that Italian hairdryers Were not powerful and suggested taking your own, utter rubbish! All three hotels provided very good powerful hairdryers, absolutely no need to bring one with you.
Wash cloths? Provided in the Masseria Maizza and the Borgo Egnasia but not at the hotel in LECCE --- no hair conditioner provided in this hotel either. Will correct this, on a pre stay at the Borgo there were washcloths, but not when we returned there on the last night.
Some of the electric outlets in the Borgo Egnasia took American style plugs too, everywhere else you will require an ADAPTER for your electronics.
Shopping--- the area still observes the tradition of closing stores from around noon or 1pm until around 5pm, so that made the sparse time for shopping even harder. The only true time where you might be able to do shopping was early in the tour and I forget where that was right now but the Main Street we all visited had a variety of the usual souvenirs for the area that the tour guide had given us a hand out with pictures of the items and an explanation of what they were. The town called the white city, Ostuni, had shopping, but the same items cost a lot more.
Food, I had been reading on the forum that the food could have been more 'peasant food'. All the food we had was typical Italian food from the Puglia region and we were told that 95 percent of the people still partake of this kind of food. Whereas many American women 'do not cook' or families barely eat any meals together, this is not how the Italian culture is. The food we ate on this tour was delicious, we all ate and ate and drank and drank. Octopus, I ate it once. pizza, I ate it once. What else did I eat, wild boar, donkey, lamb entrails, cuttlefish, cactus fruit. Those were the more interesting things, all very good. I particularly loved the very fresh cheeses all made from unpasteurized milk, the gelato, the breads.
There were parts of the tour that included a large number of steps, particularly in Matera, and in the heat was extremely challenging to several on the tour, steps were also made of shiny, slippy stones, that was the first day and the local tour guide took it at a very fast pace. The next day she seemed to slow down a little, I think our tour director must have had a word with her. Castel del Monte had many many steps and other places too. There are no alternative routes or ramps. Anyone with any type of mobility issues would not be able to do this tour justice.
I highly recommend this tour to contrast with the other areas of Italy that Tauck visits or even as a gentle introduction to a first time in Italy without the craziness of places like Rome.
